IOC President Declares Full Support for Boxing
June 15, 2007 – The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Dr. Jacques Rogge declared on Friday that the IOC will always be behind AIBA and the sport of boxing during a personal visit to the AIBA Executive Committee’s meeting at the IOC Headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Dr. Rogge, himself a former ringside doctor, informed the AIBA President Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu and EC members that the IOC continues to be impressed with AIBA’s current reform process and will continue to fully support AIBA’s drive towards creating a new and revitalized era for boxing.
“The IOC will always be by your side,” Dr. Rogge said. “Boxing is always an important sport, a universal sport where not a lot of investment is needed and a sport when practiced under Olympic rules, guarantees the safety of the athletes. We believe there is a need today to have a competition for young athletes, to perfect their skills but also to educate them of the Olympic life and life skills and it is coming together (here in boxing).
“The change in refereeing and judging rules is a very good one. It gives transparency and credibility to judging of the bout. It has not been easy. To change things is never easy but everyone is happy, the boxers like it and that’s the main thing. And my further congratulations go to the change of rules and the reform that is currently taking place and my thanks go to my colleague Mr. Gerhard Heiberg who has taken a strong role in this.”
The AIBA Executive Committee is reviewing a number of recommendations on Friday put forward by the AIBA Reform Committee aimed to continue the overhaul of the sport of boxing and the AIBA organisation.
About the International Boxing Association
The International Boxing Association (AIBA) is a non-profit making international organization, which was founded under the name Fédération Internationale de Boxe Amateur (FIBA) in 1920. In 1946 a new start was given with the launch of AIBA to replace the dissolved FIBA and now, more than 60 years later, AIBA, with its 195 member federations, continues to govern the sport of Boxing, working for the benefit of the sport and all its participants, to help Boxing realise its potential within the Olympic Movement and the international sporting arena. For more information please visit http://www.aiba.org/
Dr. Rogge, himself a former ringside doctor, informed the AIBA President Dr. Ching-Kuo Wu and EC members that the IOC continues to be impressed with AIBA’s current reform process and will continue to fully support AIBA’s drive towards creating a new and revitalized era for boxing.
“The IOC will always be by your side,” Dr. Rogge said. “Boxing is always an important sport, a universal sport where not a lot of investment is needed and a sport when practiced under Olympic rules, guarantees the safety of the athletes. We believe there is a need today to have a competition for young athletes, to perfect their skills but also to educate them of the Olympic life and life skills and it is coming together (here in boxing).
“The change in refereeing and judging rules is a very good one. It gives transparency and credibility to judging of the bout. It has not been easy. To change things is never easy but everyone is happy, the boxers like it and that’s the main thing. And my further congratulations go to the change of rules and the reform that is currently taking place and my thanks go to my colleague Mr. Gerhard Heiberg who has taken a strong role in this.”
The AIBA Executive Committee is reviewing a number of recommendations on Friday put forward by the AIBA Reform Committee aimed to continue the overhaul of the sport of boxing and the AIBA organisation.
About the International Boxing Association
The International Boxing Association (AIBA) is a non-profit making international organization, which was founded under the name Fédération Internationale de Boxe Amateur (FIBA) in 1920. In 1946 a new start was given with the launch of AIBA to replace the dissolved FIBA and now, more than 60 years later, AIBA, with its 195 member federations, continues to govern the sport of Boxing, working for the benefit of the sport and all its participants, to help Boxing realise its potential within the Olympic Movement and the international sporting arena. For more information please visit http://www.aiba.org/